| Title | : | Deaths Hand (Descent, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1937733009 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781937733001 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2006 |
Now they've been pretending to be normal for five years, leaving their horrific history a dark secret. Elise works in an office. James owns a business. None of their friends realize they used to be one of the world's best killing teams.
After years of hiding, something stirs. Bodies are vanishing. Demons scurry in the shadows of the night. A child has been possessed.
Some enemies aren't willing to let the secrets of the past stay dead...
Deaths Hand (Descent, #1) Reviews
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➽ And the moral of this rereread is: There's no Darkly Delicious Place (DDP™) like
homeDescent. Because I said so and stuff.
[September 2016]
The MacHalos didn't LOVE this one so Elise Kavanagh Shall Kick their Shapely Asses and I Shall Annihilate them All Buddy Read (TMdLtosEKSKtSAaISAtABR™).
Friendly warning: you don't want to read this non-review, it's spectacularly crappy and totally not worthy of this mostest awesomest series.
Previous rating: 3.5 stars. But that was for the
books 1-3 bundle as a whole so it doesn't count and stuff.
New rating: 4 stars. Because I'm biased as fish and stuff.
Okay, so if I wasn't totally full of crap, I'd rate this 3 stars. But this is Elise Freaking Kavanagh. AND Reine is right up there with
Awesome Pippa DaCosta when it comes to Yummy Demon Stuff. AND this is one of the best freaking UF series ever. So I don't give a freaking damn if this is a *whispers* weak first instalment. Descent is, to this day, one of the most original UF series I have ever read. And the last few books is the series are bloody mind-blowing. And nothing short of awesome. So I don't give a damn what you people think.
What? Were you expecting a review? So sorry. Things to do, crap to read and all that. I'm sure lots of delightfully clever readers have written wonderfully enlightening reviews about this book, though. So please go ahead and check them out. No, no, really, I insist. You have my blessing and all that crap. These reviews obviously won't be as good as the one I would have written, but they'll still be informative. I think. Hopefully. Somewhat. Don't read anything below a 4-star rating, though. Because haters gonna hate and stuff.
» And the moral of this Crappiest of Crappy Non-Reviews Ever Review (CoCNRER™) is:
Obviously.
· Book 0.6:
Deadly Hearts ★★★★★
· Book 2:
The Darkest Gate ★★★★★
· Book 3:
Dark Union ★★★★
· Book 4:
Damnation Marked ★★★★
· Book 5:
Dire Blood ★★★★
· Book 6:
Defying Fate ★★★★★
· Book 7:
Paradise Damned ★★★★★
Original Crappy Boring Review (OCBR™) from when I had no life, no friends, and didn't know gifs existed can be found
here. Read it at your own risk and stuff. -
*** 3.75 ***
A buddy read with The MacHalos, who have not given up on the UF Genre yet:):):)
So, I had never heard of this series and had absolutely no expectations going in. My friends Sara and Maria like it, so this was a good enough incentive for me to read it:) And I am glad I did.
Death’s Hand is the first book in The Descent series by S. M. Reine and it opened up with a set of engaging scenes, which had me hooked pretty much straight up. It is a well thought-out story with a different look on the human-demon relationships in a world which seems to be overrun by the hellish creatures. Luckily for the human populations, the real Big Bads have a hard time making it up to the surface of the world and as usual with their types, they crave what we have and plot of ways to achieve it. Our main character, Elise, is involved with keeping the agreed upon boundaries by enforcing the agreements between the Hell citizens and those who represent our best interests. This position or being, I am not yet completely sure, is called a Kopis and as they are the first defense against Demon aggression and possession, they are also on the top of the demon's hit list.
Elise has a friend, a male which named James with whom at one time they had performed a bonding ritual (non-sexual or romantic), thus making him her Aspis, thus making her the Sword and him her Shield. After some time of being very successful at taming the beasts, they have a case from which they barely make it out alive and decide to call it quits. So, he becomes a dance teacher, while she becomes an accountant:) That actually made me smile - dealing with Demons or the IRS - pretty much the same thing! However, a small girl is possessed and the Kopis and the Aspis become involved, setting off a domino reaction which threatens to destroy them and all they know...
The book is full of action and intense situations, which kept my interest up from beginning to end. I am not yet completely invested in all the characters, but I loved Elise, who is not a very nice person and kind of crabby, and her roommate Betty, who is one of those that exude excessive energy, friendliness and inquisitiveness... I was exhausted just thinking about someone this perky... But I still liked her:) For the rest - the jury is still out, but I would like to know what happens with them and learn more about this world. So yes, I am going to read them all:):):)
I wish all of you happy reading and I hope demons are only found in the pages of fictional books... They creep me out! -
The ever changing timeline in the beginning was confusing. Elise was not a likeable character. The author didn't explain any of the demons or other working of her world. Building thereof, not much.
The writing didn't seem so bad early on, but the story was mostly meh for me. James was more likeable than Elise, but I did not connect with either of them and the plot never grabbed me.
The first and only time in this book that I thoroughly enjoy the action, one of the sidekicks was in a fight scene. How can that be?
Around the middle of the book my interest actually picked up a little and I thought, this might not turn out so bad after all! And right after that the writing and the story crashed so badly that I considered 1-starring this silly thing.
Have I mentioned the lack of world building? I actually looked up demon names on Wikipedia, because not a thing is explained. Not. A. Thing. World building: Zero!
The more I read, the more the writing irritated me. Short, choppy sentences, followed by verbose exaggerations. Stating the obvious. Loose plot ends. And some of the descriptions were plainly silly. The writing was actually getting worse as I got closer to the end of the book.
And there are too many editing mistakes in the ebook, mostly missing words.
By the time the story started to build up towards the finale, I couldn't WAIT to be done. I nearly rage-quit two chapters before the end. If I could, I would go back to rage quit now!
I couldn't have cared less, if one of the fiends or zombies had eaten Elise. How can someone so strong and powerful (where did that power come from all of a sudden?) suck so much at fighting and get beaten so often and still win the war?
And I really don't care if Elise turns out to be the daughter of the devil. Whatever. You know what? 1 star it is!
*~*~*
BOTM read with the
MacHalos. Got the three-book-bundle for free on Amazon. -
2.5-demon-exorcizing-stars
This wasn't the typical UF story, I haven't read any horror but I wonder if this is maybe closer to that in tone. I appreciate the author tried to unveil the characters and their world in an untraditional manner, but the execution was jarring and in need of a good edit. However, violent action scenes were where this author shined, some moments were on par with the strongest UF authors I've read.
Intentional or not, Elise, James and the demons are still a bit of a mystery by the end of the book, which I'm ok with. I thought the roommate and cousin were strangely out of place, they seemed goofy and their scenes had a Buffy the Vampire feel, which was at odds with the rest of the story.
The author has potential and some of my fellow readers felt the series greatly improved. Curiosity has the better of me and I will continue :) -
Holy hell. What a ride!
The story begins several years after the events in the novella, Death's Avatar. After saving the world, the demon-slaying duo, Elise and James, are now retired and doing their best to lead normal, quiet lives. Elise is, of all things, an accountant, and her witchy companion, James, has a dance studio. The biggest concern Elise has is keeping her business afloat....until James asks her to meet with the Martinez family, whose young daughter, Lucinde, may be possesed by a demon. Elise is understandably reluctant to get involved. She doesn't hunt demons anymore, doesn't perform exorcisms. Those days are behind her. But James is determined to help the Martinez family, and so Elise grudgingly agrees. Little do they know, there is a lot more at stake than the life & soul of a young girl. The fate of the world itself hangs in the balance.
Death's Hand is a perfect blend of urban fantasy & horror genres. Told from alternating third person POV's, it features a genuinely kickass heroine, some seriously brutal action sequences, and more than a few creepy moments. When it comes to world-building, the author seems to follow the "less is more" policy. It's a risky move on Reine's part, and one that may alienate some readers. In my case, it didn't. I didn't need to know every little detail of Elise's world and backstory, and frankly, I enjoyed the hints, teasers & flashbacks much more than if everything had been laid out for me in all its gory detail.
There's a tiny bit of romance in the book, but not between Elise and James. I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed by that. Here they are, bound as kopis & apsis (demon hunter and witch), with over 10 years of shared history, and yet, as far as I could tell, they've both stayed firmly on their respective sides of the relationship line. I thought a few times that one of them (I won't say who) might be open to something more, but the hints were very subtle and there's a good chance I was reading into it. Or not. I honestly don't know. Their relationship is very...murky. There's a wierd intimacy between them that even now, I can't quite capture in words. Sometimes they act like father and daughter (James is 12 years older), other times like comrades-in-arms, and then there were those brief and tantalizing moments when everything else just sort of fell away, leaving just the two of them in their own private world. I suspect my hopes of an Elise/James romance are doomed to be dashed, but for once, I don't mind. They are so utterly fascinating, I simply must keep reading about them.
5 stars.
**Note: If you plan on reading this series, I strongly recommend you read the novella, Death's Avatar, first. -
3.5 stars
I have mixed feeling for this book. The pros: Elise as a heroine did not have a god complex. Woohoo!
She was accessible without coming across as weak. She didn't rely on the love of a man to make her feel empowered, although she had unrequited feelings for James that left her confused. There was never a dull moment and the action was top notch. S.M. Reine sure does know how to write about demons! The cons: Major lack of development with both the main and secondary characters, also, there was a few too many holes in the story, I kept wondering if I missed something( I've heard many questions get answered as the series progresses). Lastly, Elise is supposed to be the big bad and she knows how to kick ass, but she sure got her ass kicked a lot and she barely won every fight by the skin of her teeth. I understand the author probably wanted Elise to appear vulnerable and not an impregnable superhuman, but I wished she held the advantage a little sooner in maybe one fight? Yeah? Well, my emotions were all over the place while reading this and to me that's a sign of a good writer, whether I read the next one in this series or not. -
This was a freebie of 3 books in the series, but I only partially read the first and won't read the others. I was fighting off a snore. Too much action, not enough reason to care for the characters.
Nailed in this review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I usually love supernatural/paranormal type stories, but I wasn't a fan of this one. I read another series by this author, “Seasons of the Moon,” and even though I was able to get through it, it was still pretty bad. With this one, I couldn't even get through the first book and I have all three. Needless to say, although there was tons of action, the story just didn't draw me in, the characters seemed really flat, most I couldn't even picture. I read up to chapter 17 and with that, all I knew was that Elise had red curly hair, Betty and Anthony were Hispanic, and James was about 10 years older than Elise. Yeah, that's it for the descriptions. I couldn't figure Elise out either. What exactly was she? Part demon or something? Given the fact that she was seriously injured multiple times, lost a fair amount of blood, she was still walking around like nothing happened. She wasn't a very good fighter, but it seemed like she fought on a daily basis. How did her skills not improve? In the end, I hate having to force myself to read a story, so I stopped.
Questions/Comments:
1. At the beginning, James couldn't tell the ground was covered in feathers, instead of snow. Did he forget his glasses?
2. This might be a stupid question, but of course I'm going to ask. When James is warming Elise up, after finding her body among the dead, why did he put one of the hand-warmers on her crotch?
3. Elise is looking under Lucinde's bed. How was it possible for Lucinde to kick out at her...hitting Elise's face, without Elise noticing?
4. So Elise's special power is healing to human speed? That's it? How exactly would that be a special power? How slowly does she normally heal?
5. James and Elise are racing to the cover of trees in the jungle and because the jungle is so thick, the demons don't follow. Huh? The demons are little though, so you'd think it would be easier for them to run through the jungle than the adult size people.
6. I found it strange that the first time 'Dis' is brought up, it's never really explained.
7. How old was everyone? I mean there's the part when Betty is talking to Anthony about how he likes Elise and refers to Elise as a cougar.
8. After being attacked, Elise still goes dancing with Anthony at the club. Yet, it's not until the next morning that she realizes she ripped her stitches out from dancing. How would that have been possible?
9. There's a night when James plans to gather all his coven together the following morning and Elise is present during this. Yet, the next morning she's acting like she has no clue why everyone's there.
10. Why does Augustine get mad when Elise and James come by? I mean his kid did start acting strange.
11. After Lucinde go outside, Elise manages to get her back to the basement. She gets her into the corner of the room and is holding a cross against her cheek. Why would Lucinde just have been sitting there? There was nothing about her being tied up or anything, so she easily could have just pushed Elise away. Again, being that close to Lucinde, Elise somehow didn't notice that Lucinde was going to punch her. Does Elise need glasses?
12. For some reason it annoyed me that the author keep switching back and forth between the posessed ones and servants and she was talking about the zombie like people.
13. Given the fact that James is a high priest, I found it strange that his coven, even knowing about demons and whatnot, all seemed so clueless to the supernatural world.
14. In one of the flashbacks, James is resting in a house after being tortured from the death goddess. Elise checks his temperature...first on his back, then his forehead...why the back? I can't imagine he was all sprawled out, nice and cozy on the bed with his injuries.
15. So Anthony and Betty are Hispanic. Why did the author wait so long to inform us of this? It's like you get a picture in your head of what you imagine the characters looking like, then suddenly it's changed. The only reason I knew they were Hispanic was because Anthony referenced his uncle as 'Tio'.
16. How did Anthony ever find out that Elise was an exorist? "Elise is the exorist...She's been injured. She's not talking about why." Huh? Elise wasn't even injured around them, until they were supping up the jeep to go after James. So that part makes no sense.
17. How did Ann know what fiends were, yet, James didn't?
18. During a fight with the goddess, Elise gets her hands on a shotgun, and where does she shoot? The goddesses leg, of course. Yes, because it would have made too much sense to aim for the head or chest area. Again, Elise is not a good fighter or shooter.
19. So Elise was just beaten by Dominic and his goons. She's injured, in pain, and bloody. This of course equals to a prefect time, in Anthony's opinion, to make out with Elise. Seriously? That's worse then when the characters make out right after waking up.
20. When they're getting ready to head over to Ann's, this is after they supped the jeep up, the reader is informed that Anthony is sitting in the jeep with half an inch of water collecting at the bottom. Why hadn't he put the top up then? -
Surprisingly good for a free book
I can't say I loved it, but it did make me curious about the next books.
And, to tell you the truth, it surprised me. I think it's the first free book from Amazon that I actually like!
All in all, it's worth reading. Writing is good, characters aren't bad, and the plot has potential.
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3.5 stars
Good start for the series. I loved all the action and information on the different demons. Can't wait to continue to see what happens next. -
I’m going for non-spoilery, so bear with me here. Okay, it starts with a bang — a scene in the past with the two main characters, Elise and James, who were powerful hunters of evil. Something horrific happened and they retired. We are thrust into the present time, where Elise and James are living out their very normal lives. That is until they end up trying to exorcise a little girl.
It gets worse.
As an aside, I have to say: I’m not familiar with actual exorcism or demonology. I believe there are some elements in Elise’s exorcisms that are taken from true exorcism. I was impressed with it. It was simple, clean, and rang true for me whether or not it’s actually real. But most importantly, it made perfect sense within the context of the world Reine created in Death’s Hand. Also something else I liked was the bond between Elise and James. It’s actually a magical bond. I don’t believe they are in love or anything like that, but are close friends that would die for each other. I thought it was refreshing to see something other than a soulmate/mating-type bond between a man and a woman.
Okay, back to the story. There’s this goddess of death that Elise encountered before who swore she’d come back for Elise. And she’s in an object that is wielded by a powerful witch/necromancer. You’ll never guess who it is (I knew from reading a previous draft, but the way it’s laid out will surprise you). *winks* So between the possessed girl, the workings of the death goddess, the newly-risen dead (zombies?), Elise and James have their hands full. They’re forced out of retirement.
What happens is twisty and dark and awful, but it ends happily, I assure you. But you’ll have issues putting it down. The last 100 pages flew for me, and I was technically proofreading, except I kinda forgot to keep an eye out at that point. I admit that. It completely riveted me to the point where I was sitting at work counting down the hours until I could go home and read more. It’s nuts.
Another thing, too. This is a very unique take on demons, exorcism, witches, necromancers. There is a lot of that out there, but you’ll find Death’s Hand refreshingly different. I like the elements of the paranormal and the grittiness of dark fantasy. It really, really works.
So, whatcha waitin’ for? Check it out.
Also, this is the first book in SM Reine’s Descent series. It is a complete story, but there is one teeny tiny little thing at the end that will flow into the next book, which I believe is called The Darkest Gate. I can’t wait to read that. I’m kind of addicted — uh, actually I am addicted to these stories. ….Yeah.
Red Iris Publishing is new to the game and I believe they will become one of the finest publishers out there. With writers like SM Reine, it’s a certainty. So check them out. -
Looking at the other reviews for this book I feel a little guilty giving it only the one star.
The truth is I couldn't bear to read past the first chapter. I found the style of writing so off-putting that I was constantly distracted from the story by what I perceived as poorly-constructed sentences. The section that drew the line under this book for me was when a seven year old girl is handed a pair of swords for her birthday then slays her first demon. This was followed by the following words:
"Later, they will say this day marked the beginning of the end of the world. This is only half true."
What does that even mean?
So I stopped reading purely because the style of writing was screaming at me from every page, which is disappointing because I am sure the story has the potential to be fantastic - and surely it must be because how else would it receive so many positive reviews? -
MacHalo Group Book of the Month for September, let me know if you want in on this action if you're not already a member. -
I wanted to like this one more than I did. People whose opinion on books I respect recommeded it highly. But it just didn't grab me. I found the constant battle with fiends tedious, the flipping between past & present annoying and the lack of explanation about pretty much Elise and James entire back story frustrating. Why have the prologue of Elise discovered in Russia with the bodies and the mark on her hand if it isn't relevant to the story? How did J & E become kopsis & aspis? Why? What happened to her parents? Why does James not want arelationship with Elise? What happened in Russia? Who is the mysterious Him that marked Elise. And for a super kick ass kopsis who was famous among demons she sure got beaten alot. While I am curious enough to want answers to my questions, based on this story I doubt they will be forthcoming any time soon so I am not sure if I will be continuing on with the series.
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Okay, so…I certainly liked this one. The world and the characters seemed really cool. I think my biggest issue however is that it felt as though I was dropped into an already made and developed universe, this felt like a second book rather than the first. We got a lot of glimpses of what happened before through flashbacks, and while I enjoyed them, it didn’t feel like enough.
Despite this, I’m interested to see what happens next so onto the next book we go. -
Elise is a kopis. A fighter of demons, and exorcist, a warrior for the light and innocent against the dark. Or she was anyway. She's retried, she's an accountant now. Of course she may have to poke some of her clients with sharp things now and then to make them pay – demons can be pretty stingy – but she's put all of that demon killing behind her now after a particularly horrifying experience where she nearly lost everything.
Except James, her apis, her shield and childhood mentor, isn't so willing to let go. Especially since he is the high priest of the local coven – and one of his members has a possessed child. He cannot abandon her – but nor can he free her without the help of his kick arse accounting friend.
Of course, what starts as a possession gets much much worse. With demons from the past arising, old fears coming back, the walking dead and a legion of lesser demons - with the entire city at risk and people they're close to betraying them – as well as dragging their normal, unskilled, ignorant friends in the dark to do battle alongside them.
Dark powers, kicking arse, magic and demons – what's not to like? I do like this story a lot – it's intriguing I never really knew where I was going and while the premise sounds fairly tried and true, the details were sufficiently unique for me never to be sure exactly what was going to happen – it wasn't predictable, which is rather rare and nice to find. The action scenes were nicely done – I have seen better but not many – they didn't fall into the common traps of being bogged down, unrealistic or hard to follow – they were clear, concise and exciting
The world is, again, relatively unique. The focus is on the myriad kinds of demons and their offshoots and it's less about slicing and dicing them (though there is a nice amount of slicing and dicing) so much as exorcising and banishing them. We didn't see a lot of the world – and I would like to see it expanded a lot more (in fact, I think this book could have used a little world building, especially as some demon types are named but nor explained) - but we have solid hints of angels and demons, witches and other magic users all together with a lot of variety and variations within each category. I want to see more, yes yes I do. There's a lot to intrigue here, even if the taste sample was a trifle stingy
Read More -
The quickest review known to man kind:
Characters
I'm in love with Elise, she's so badass and awesome. I felt like James was a bit flat - his story got really nerve wracking at the end, and I had no fear whatsoever. I would've been sad for Elise if something had happened to him, but not sad to lose him as a character.
I liked the idea of introducing regular people to a fantasy world, but I felt their story was a bit rushed. Not the relationship side of things - the friendships and more-than-friendships were developed really well. But they were thrown into the fantasy part with no prep. I'm not sure if I liked that or not. It made sense, but I also had a lot of questions myself that they could have answered for me. I'm thinking it'll be something that's developed in the next two books.
Structure
This is what I didn't like about the book. It was split into six parts, and each part was a completely different length. I'm talking going from one chapter in part 2, to ten chapters in part 3. And it didn't seem to be done for dramatic effect, it was just broken up awkwardly. It made the book really hard to get into!
TO BE CONTINUED -
I am very excited to tell you about this book as it is the best book I have read in the paranormal realm. It starts by introducing you to a retired exorcist and sword Elise Kavanaugh and to her sheild & witch James Faulkner. The book begins by letting you know these two went into retirement and hiding after they saved the world. Living in hiding, Rylie as an accountant to the demon world and James as a dance studio owner and head of his local coven, is not making them rich. But they're alive and they're no longer risking their lives everyday. Everything is going well until a child of one of James coven witches becomes possessed and must be exorcised. That is all I'm going to tell you. It was far & above the best paranormal book I have read and I'm going to find more books by this author immediately! Enjoy!
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If Stephenie Meyer's books and Michael Bay's movies had a love child that was (if possible) more plot-less that its parents, it would be this book. It's no secret that my guilty pleasure is urban fantasy, but even this book lost me. Lots of plot points that went no where and SO MUCH ACTION. That only marginally works for Michael Bay, but it doesn't translate into novel form very well. I got the first three books in the series either free or super cheap on amazon. I have no intention of reading the next two.
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'Death's Hand' is a hardcore, take-no-prisoners, struggle against a Death Demon plotting to escape from Hell and take over the world. It has witches and various kinds of supernatural beings, so It sort of fits under Urban Fantasy but it's Urban Fantasy that's rubbing shoulders with Splatterpunk Horror. There's no romance and no deep existential angst, just a bloody and brutal battle against evil.
From the dramatic first scene, almost to the end, this is a book of extreme, violent action. The fight scenes are graphic, brutal, detailed and frequent. The torture scenes are worse although, thankfully, less detailed and less frequent. It's a story soaked in blood, illuminated by pain and populated with Fiends, Demons, Necromancers and reanimated corpses.
The thing that makes this more than a gorefest, is how Elise Kavanagh looks at the world. We learn her history through a series of flashbacks (with some obvious omissions - truth-bombs to be dropped in later books it feels like) starting in 1998 when the witch James Faulkner found her the seventeen-year-old Elise, laying naked in a Siberian forest in February, surrounded by the twisted and broken bodies of her dozen kidnappers, through the years that she spent working with him as a demon hunter. What I liked most was that, five years earlier, after being tortured and left for dead while trying to save the world, Elise had decided that she'd had enough of the demon hunting business. She retired to Reno and became a CPA. OK, her customers are mostly supernatural entities, but still, our sword-wielding, fiend-slaying, demon-smiting killing machine became a CPA. I found it refreshing to see a hero confronting her own mortality and the mounting cost of living a life on the run from fight to fight and deciding to step back.
For my taste, 'Death's Hand' could have done with a little more character development. It reminded me of some of the Marvel Universe movies that feel short on dialogue and heavy on CGI. Even so, I keep going back to those movies and, when I'm in the mood for something fast and hard-hitting, I'll be coming back to The Descent Series. -
Great kick ass story. Reine has an interesting way of using introspection and I can already tell I'm gonna Love Elise. But the story was choppy and the time line was mondo confusing
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it could be better
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This was a solid effort and an intriguing urban fantasy world with unique aspects that furthered my interest and held my attention. This is definitely an author I would like to follow. She displays real talent with her creation of the character duo of Elise and James and the world that she transports us to. I believe there's more to James than meets the eye and much more in store for Elise and James as a team and potential couple. Some bonds cannot be broken, and that's the impression I got of these two.
The action was fierce and exciting, but I must say that the scenes describing torture and pain were at times a bit overwhelming. I see the term "dark fantasy" used in many places online to describe this work, so I'd say that's about right.
There were a few things that bothered me as a reader, though. It was obvious to me who our mystery antagonist was the first scene this character was introduced, and I felt at times insulted and underestimated when "hints" meant to allude to later revelations were repetitious and only served to ruin these surprise elements for me. Early on, there are comments that would have given me pause normally and, if not repeated, would have later served as "aha's" once the revelation was concluded. However, what I experienced instead was knowing the surprises way too soon and simply having to just watch what I expected to unfold. I began thinking that perhaps this book was meant for a YA audience, as opposed to a well-read 35 year old, but I honestly feel that the author made it too easy even for that age group. Once is a hint, twice is a dead giveaway, and three times just ruins the story. So, my advice to the author is to not underestimate her audience. If it wasn't caught by the reader the first time, so be it; it will still be a surprise for them when all is said and done, but don't hammer it into the rest of us and ruin the punchline before the joke has even been told.
I saw some wording and simple copy editing errors that I think would be easily resolved with an outside editor or advanced reader group. For example, in the beginning of the book, the term "kopes"(used as the plural for kopis)are the term used for the people who are "the sword" part of the sword and shield pairing, and later we are introduced to a falchion which is a weapon that is a sword. Using these two terms interchangeably at the very end of the book by referring to the falchion as the kopis, when before it referred to as simply her sword, was confusing and distracting.
I was interested enough in this story and in the author that I did a bit of research and read the author's blog. I see much room for growth, and apparently, the author agrees. She makes it clear that she is a much better author now and that this book was written several years ago, so I encourage her to continue revisiting the other books she has written to revise before publishing.
Surprisingly enough, the prequel, Death's Avatar, gives some of the back story other reviewers are craving (though personally I like the flashbacks and steady revelations that the author provides thus far) and is better written. That said, I will definitely be picking up the other two books of the series she has planned for publication, and hopefully she will write many more novels pertaining to this world and of course, Elise & James. -
Okay, I’m playing catch up in a serious way. You may have noticed that I’ve jumped around on my S.M. Reine reads. I got my hands on her Ascension series and I couldn’t wait to read them…. so I did. Even though I knew that those books (and her new Preternatural Affairs series) are based on characters introduced in both her Descent series and her Seasons of the Moon series – both of which I haven’t finished. It was risky and I’ll never know what my take on these books would have been if I had read them in order, but it’s too late to second guess my decision. I’m now totally committed to reading them all. (Honestly, not a big sacrifice.)
It’s been a little while since I read the first prequel to this series, Death’s Avatar. That’s okay though, I remembered most of it and a good portion of it is covered in flash backs in Death’s Hand. The book goes back and forth between the past and the present but it’s fairly easy to follow, especially since each section is dated.
The characters were great, as usual. I’m not sure if knowing where Elise and James end up made me look at them differently, but I think that even if this would have been my first introduction to them I would have picked up on the fact that they don’t do ‘normal’ well. They seem to have even the people that they are closest to fooled to an extent, at least in the beginning. By the end there is no hiding exactly how powerful and not ‘normal’ either one of them are.
The rest of the characters were as interesting and important to the story as I’ve come to expect from anything that S.M. Reine writes. She holds nothing back, good or bad and it’s that intensity that I’ve grown to not only expect but love in her writing.
There are 7 books in this series and I plan to devour them all. The next book in this series is The Darkest Gate and I’m so glad I have it ready and waiting. I picked up this book along with the 1st three books in a set so I’m covered for a while. Of course I also plan on reading the rest of the Seasons of the Moon series as well. And speaking of reading order? I do love James and Elise, but I’m still glad that I picked up the Seasons of the Moon series first. -
Wow. What a fantastic world S.M. Reine has created here. It's chock full of demons, blood, magic and righteous fury and it gets all jumbled together in a mad, brilliant clash that leaves you gasping for breath and wondering if everyone is going to make it out of this in one piece. I practically needed a cigarette after and I don't smoke.
I loved the relationship Elise has with the world. She's brittle and standoffish, the world takes note and, well, stands off. As things begin to unravel and Elise is forced to reveal the truth of things to those around her she finds herself collecting people who mean something to her. I thought Elise's reaction to being asked out was awkward in a way that rang entirely true. That long moment of silence after the idea of a date comes up, followed by agreeing to go but only on her terms. I don't know. I liked it. "Sure I'll go out with you, but we're not doing the dinner thing before, dude. Nope. We do things my way, or the highway." No, that's not a quote from the book. That's my awesome paraphrasing. Try not to be too impressed by the way I can work "dude" into nearly every fictional conversation.
Right. So, while several issues about Elise's past are addressed, there are several that have left burning holes in my brain. I want to know more about her. I want to know about her life before. I want to see how things are going to turn out now that she's begun to let people into her life. I think that I'm trying to say that I want more. No, I'm definitely saying I want more.
-Kelly @
Reading the Paranormal -
I really, really wanted to like this book/series. But I could hardly follow the story, much less enjoy it. I felt like I was plopped down in the middle of a story even though this is the first book in the series. It is written non-chronologically, which usually isn't a deal-breaker for me, but in this case the past and the present are neither parallel in conflict nor is the past thrown in at an appropriate time to illuminate the present. In other words, it seems like the sections detailing the past were sort of thrown randomly in between the scenes of the present.
In addition, there's like a dozen different type names (usually in Latin, I assume, because they were strange) of demons/fiends/otherworldly creatures. You are told these names/types with no description, no detail, no background, no nothing. The only creature that was really described well was the nightmares...and they didn't even figure into main plot! By the end, I still couldn't tell you if Death's Hand was a demon or a goddess or something else. Sometimes the general terms were used interchangeably like that.
I often felt like I had no clue who these characters were. They acted so unpredictably. Part of it, I'm sure, was because we weren't given enough background information. At least not at the appropriate time in the story. But it didn't seem like that was the only reason.
Audio version: Eh, no great. Bearable to listen to, but could be slightly annoying.
Gonna give the series one more chance since I already have the next book. But right now I can't recommend the book or the series at all unless you are a hardcore urban fantasy fan and have read everything else on the market. -
Not long ago, I read another of S.M. Reine's novels, Witch Hunt, and, while I didn't click with the main character, I liked the author's voice and writing style enough to try the beginning trilogy of her Descent Series which includes Death's Hand, The Darkest Gate, and Dark Union. Happily, it's free at Amazon.
I love the main character, Elise Kavanagh, demon hunter and Godslayer. She's a seriously flawed character, trying to change and live a "normal" life, until her past catches up with her (doesn't it always?).
The story world is seriously cool. You definitely get the feel of the eternal struggle between demons and angels with humans in the middle, often trying to play both sides.
The only problem I had is that the story is so dark and gut-wrenching. Elise's life sucks. Thus, the descent, of course. I don't remember a female character getting physically pounded so much before. It reminded me of Harry Dresden, only much worse.
By the time I finished the third novel, I felt like I was walking around in a dark fog. I want to know more about Elise and what happens, but I'm definitely going to have to space these books out. However, I see after a few more books in the Descent Series, there is an Ascension Series, so there's hope! -
![[ J o ]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1673171874i/4639825._UY200_CR4,0,200,200_.jpg)
Read as part of the Get Through The Crap On Your Kindle You Stubborn Eejit reading challenge.
An urban fantasy young adult story written by someone who can actually string two sentences together. Two retired demon hunters realise the demons are still there and begin the killing all over again...
Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to enjoy. The world building was non-existent and the underworld vibes were lacking. Occasionally the dialogue was fine, but other times it would either sink to the depths of trying too hard to be amusing or went all a bit over-dramatic and Hollywood. The chronology of the storyline was off-putting, hopping from past to present to near past etc and it only made the pace linger. The characters were, in a word, beige. -
Thank goodness I got this one for free (I actually got the first 3 for free tho I won't read #2 or #3). At first the story jumped from past to present so many times I couldn't quite be sure when I was until a page in. I never connect with the characters. Any of them. At all. Then when the 'poopy' started to hit the fan, Elise was capable of fighting through any injury and any amount of pain. Completely unbelievable.
Like I said, I got the first 3 for free but won't bother even finishing them.
